SPANISH family doctors were due to meet in Bolton today to discuss working in the North-west to solve a GP staffing crisis.

Twenty four Spanish GPs were due to to meet with regional health chiefs at the Reebok.

As reported in the BEN, Bolton patients are facing a GP shortage as more and more family doctors reach retirement age with fewer doctors taking up family medicine.

If the Spanish doctors are given jobs, it will be the first international recruitment programme in Britain.

Last month, the Royal Bolton Hospital recruited a team of Filipino nurses to boost numbers of staff on the wards.

They are also expected to be recruiting foreign doctors in the near future.

The project is being spearheaded by the NHS Executive North-west and today's meeting will involve GPs being "matched" to towns across the region.

GPs are expected to be recruited in Bolton on the advice of the government's Commission for Health Improvement inspectors. The project, called the Anglo-Spanish Programme, has already recruited 13 senior doctors into hospital posts in Trusts across the North-west including Bury and Rochdale.

Today's conference is the result of a one-day seminar in Madrid held last month by department of health officials.